The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) just announced the release of Matter 1.5, bringing support for one of the most important device types, the camera. The latest major spec 1.5 also extends Matter into more use cases, including gardening, closures, and better energy management.
The release, following two minor updates Matter 1.4.1 and 1.4.2, finally adds new device types. The last time we saw new device types was 1.4, a year ago, which suggests the CSA seems to settle down on a new routine for spec release from twice a year to one major update a year with multiple quality updates among the year, as industrial rumors mention Matter 1.5.1 and 1.5.2. In our discussions with vendors and users, we do hear fewer complaints about the SDK issues as more devices are upgrading to Matter 1.4, a turning point similar to Thread versions.
Here is a breakdown of major updates from Matter 1.5.
Camera, camera, and camera
The new Matter Camera category includes a series of specific forms, including "Camera", "Floodlight Camera", "Video Doorbell", "Intercom", "Audio Doorbell", "Snapshot Camera", "Chime", "Camera Controller", and "Doorbell".
These devices are defined by their specific combinations of clusters, in another word, a feature set. For instance, the foundational "Camera" device type is required to support the "Camera AV Stream Management" cluster for handling video and audio streams, while the “Snapshot Camera” is a specialized, battery-optimized variant that supports capturing still images on demand but explicitly excludes continuous video streaming.
There were already unified streaming protocols like Onvif and Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), while now with Matter support from major ecosystems on the market, we are hopefully to see the vendor and ecosystem wall tear down for open and cloud-free experience.
The Camera device type is built on mature tech, the WebRTC, which enables two-way talk and both local and remote access through standard Session Traversal Utilities for NAT (STUN), and Traversal Using Relay around NAT (TURN) protocols. The specification mandates the use of the "WebRTC Transport Provider" and "WebRTC Transport Requestor" clusters to manage these connections securely.
Matter 1.5 also enables multi-stream, pan, tilt, and zoom control via the "Camera AV Settings User Level Management" cluster, along with detection and privacy zones managed by the "Zone Management" cluster, covering the most essential feature set of cameras.
Door, window, shades, gates gain more love
Previous specifications only define basic and generic features and types of such "Closures". Well we then see lots of devices have to adopt wired device types for example, a garage door controller exposed itself as an on/off plug in Matter ecosystem, without level control.
Matter 1.5 combines these devices into a single category, the Closures. With the abstracted unified definition, device vendors can adopt Matter to some complex devices like a motorized routing window, or awnings in the yard. This new architecture allows a "Closure" device to be composed of multiple "Closure Panel" endpoints, each capable of distinct movements such as sliding, swinging, or tilting slats.
A Matter-driven roof skylight, shade, could be possible now, to better fit modern housing design.
Ecosystem-wise, CSA also emphasized that the category would serve as part of a home security setup, which would respond to security checks like "did I remember to close the garage or lock the door."
Smart garden
In previous spec versions, Matter has introduced valve and water leakage detectors. However, for a smart garden, more features are needed. Matter 1.5 then introduces a duo: Soil Sensors and Irrigation Systems.
Soil Sensors will provide temperature measurement and humidity of the soil for automation triggers and monitoring, utilizing the "Soil Measurement" cluster. While the Irrigation Systems contain one or more water valves, along with water flow measurement via the "Flow Measurement" cluster. The new device type also allows Matter Binding with an external Flow Sensor. Like most appliance devices, the Irrigation System can also report its status, for better management.
Combined, you can easily maintain and manage your plants and gardens. It also means products like ThirdReality Watering Kit and Tuya soil sensor can finally have an official user interface with an update to the bridge, if the development team plans so.
Smart Bridge MZ1
The Smart Bridge MZ1 by ThirdReality is a Matter-certified gateway that connects Zigbee devices to the Matter ecosystem, enhancing compatibility with a wide range of smart home products.
Advancing energy management
Energy management has been a major feature since Matter 1.3, and recently more device makers are adding the standard clusters for related devices like Tapo, Aqara, and Ikea. Matter 1.5 now introduces more capabilities for energy management, a step further to get control of electricity pricing, tariffs, and grid carbon intensity.
DIRIGERA
A Matter-compatible smart hub that connects and automates IKEA smart devices, enabling flexible control through the IKEA Home smart app, voice assistants, and remote triggers.
Tapo Smart Plug, Energy Monitoring P110M
The Tapo Smart Plug P110M is a Matter-compatible on/off plug-in unit that offers precise energy consumption tracking to 0.001 kWh, with an updated energy monitoring dashboard and customizable power protection settings.
"The new electrical energy tariff device type allows data from utilities, grid operators, and energy services on real-time and forecasted pricing, tariff, and carbon data to be shared with devices in a Matter-defined format," CSA notes in the release. This utilizes the "Commodity Tariff" and "Commodity Price" clusters to communicate active tariff information.
Your energy system can utilize this information to calculate spending, and carbon consumption, automatically adjust the strategy to pull power from the grid or local storage. It can be an important feature set in a region or use case where there are strict regulatory requirements. Energy management would also be more predictable. A series of new device types, including "Electrical Meter" and "Electrical Utility Meter", would help to handle most of the information sourcing and reporting.
For EV owners, new features offer state-of-charge reporting and bi-directional charging, in response to the "next generation of vehicle-to-grid and energy-sharing scenarios."
A performance boost with TCP
Under the hood, Matter 1.5 adds full support for operation over TCP (Transmission Control Protocol). While Matter has traditionally relied on UDP (User Datagram Protocol) for fast, low-overhead communication – ideal for instantly flipping a light switch – UDP is inherently "lossy" and less reliable for moving large amounts of data.
The addition of TCP introduces a robust, error-checked communication lane. This is critical for the new bandwidth-heavy device types like Cameras, ensuring that video streams and high-resolution snapshots are transmitted without corruption. Beyond cameras, this upgrade benefits the entire ecosystem by enabling faster, more reliable firmware updates and the transfer of rich metadata, such as diagnostic logs, by handling the data integrity at the network layer rather than forcing the application to manage it.
Availability
Usually, members of testing participants are likely to get the first batch of certification, specifically the Specification Validation Events of Matter 1.5. So we would expect companies like U-tec, Aqara, Panasonic, AiDot, Schneider Electric, Coolkit (eWeLink and Sonoff) for the first batch of such releases. However, AiDot told Matter Alpha that they have no plans for 1.5 at the moment. Xthings Group (U-tec, Ulticam, and Ultraloq holder) is also releasing a Matter camera, expected next month, as the firm stated in an interview with Matter Alpha.
As of the ecosystems, SmartThings and Home Assistant are usually the fastest platform supporting the latest spec, but a concrete date has not yet been shared.
Speaking of Matter Cameras, Aqara told Matter Alpha that their first Matter camera is releasing in 2026 H1, with plans to upgrade some existing models via firmware OTA. Other vendors including Tapo have expressed intention and moves to add Matter to cameras as well.
Home Assistant told Matter Alpha that the device type support is on their roadmap, not providing a specific timeline at the moment. "There are a couple of things we need to develop into Home Assistant (like 2-way audio for smart doorbells) before we can fully implement Matter cameras," said a representative of Home Assistant.
Note: The article was updated with Xthings interview content.
(Source: CSA, GitHub, Home Assistant, Xthings; Image Source: ThirdReality, CSA)
